Quotes by Fishing Fishing is such great fun, I have often felt, that it really ought to be done in bed John D. Voelker fishing sea fun The best time to go fishing is when you can get away. John D. Voelker best-times get-away fishing There is a lot of amiable fantasy written about trout fishing, but the truth is that few men know much if anything about the habits of trout and little more about the manner of taking them. John D. Voelker fishing sea men During my addled career as a trout fisherman I have gone on a lot of wild-goose chases, and I ruefully expect to go on a lot more before I hang up my waders John D. Voelker careers fishing rivers I didn't show up at the ceremony to collect any of my first three Oscars. Once I went fishing, another time there was a war on, and on another occasion, I remember, I was suddenly taken drunk. John Ford taken fishing war They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore. John Gierach trout forget-you fishing The solution to any problem -work, love, money, whatever -is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be. John Gierach trout problem fishing I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution. John Gierach mainstream-culture fishing thinking Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point. John Gierach poetic fishing hands Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed. John Gierach fishing sea lakes If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you're doing something wrong. John Gierach away-from-you fishing people If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right {fishing} you'd have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each. John Gierach trout rocks fishing Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip. John Gierach trout fishing long Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good (fishing) guide can't is write prescriptions. John Gierach guides fishing writing Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly. John Gierach fishing long thinking Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what's right there in front of you without having to sift through a lot of thoughts and theories and, yes, expensive fishing tackle. John Gierach fishing sea lakes Accurately recalling an entire day of fishing is like trying to push smoke back down a chimney, so you settle on these specific moments. John Gierach fishing sea lakes Trout aren't naturally as selective as they've become in crowded tailwaters - they've been trained to be like that by too much fishing pressure. I've seen tailwater fish that are so hysterical they'll refuse naturals. You wonder how they get enough to eat. John Gierach fishing sea lakes I like to do every operation the same way on each fly. In the course of tying a batch of flies, I might get an idea on how to do something differently, but try to save it to try out later rather than break my comfortable rhythm. I don't worry about forgetting it. In my experience good ideas stay with you, while bad ones go back to where they came from, and good riddance. John Gierach fishing sea lakes Fly tackle has improved considerably since 1676, when Charles Cotton advised anglers to 'fish fine and far off,' but no one has ever improved on that statement. John Gierach fishing sea lakes «89101112131415161718»